Stickiness
by HecateA
Summary: Lily Evans could swear that she was living out the plot of her nightmares, but if this was truly just a dream she could ask the boy inexplicably glued to her to pinch her and it would all be over. Written for Romance Awareness Day 14: Once you meet your soulmate you're literally stuck to each other for the rest of the day. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **Enjoy! Written for the 31 Days of Soulmate!AU Day 14: Once you meet your soulmate you're literally stuck to each other for the rest of the day. If you're reading this because you're the Hogwarts examiner (well first off, hello), I'm going to be really honest that I used the word 'pest' metaphorically on this one.

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **NA

* * *

**Stacked with: **MC4A; Shipping Wars; Hogwarts; Harmony of Souls Eternal; Not Commonwealth

**Individual Challenge(s): **Gryffindor MC (x2); Marauder Tales; Fall Leaves; Seeds; Minerva's Migraine; Old Shoes; Themes & Things A (Reflection); Themes & Things B (Escape); Advice From the Mug; Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Short Jog; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Representation(s): **Soulmate!AU

**Bonus challenge(s): **Muck & Slime; Rock of Ages; Second Verse (Endless Wonder); Chorus (Ladylike)

**Tertiary bonus challenge: **Sanctuary

**Word Count: **3294

* * *

_**Shipping Wars**_

**Ship (Team): **Lily Evans/James Potter (Patronus Pair)

**List (Prompt): **Summer Big List (Handholding)

* * *

_**Hogwarts Submitting Info**_

**House: **Ravenclaw

**Assignment: **Assignment #2, Agricultural Sciences Extra Credit: Write about someone having to deal with any type of pest.

* * *

**Stickiness **

James, in that moment, had no idea why he did the thing that he did. McGonagall had told him that ADHD could be like that sometimes, but this particular stunt felt particularly exceptionally rash for James. Later, he wouldn't be able to explain exactly why he had done the thing—not even to Lily, when she asked again years after the event, when they could tell each other everything. The closest thing to an explanation that James could muster was that it seemed completely unwarranted that Lily Evans lose her streak as a perfect student and earn her first detention because of a worthless toadstool like Severus Snape.

Remus would later inform James that the words 'toadstool' and 'mushroom' were, historically, largely interchangeable and since James quite liked mushrooms, he shouldn't call toadstools worthless. But that was only after James did the stupid thing, and in that moment he gave very little thought to anything but vividly remembered the word _toadstool _coming to mind.

So yes: when James walked out of the Great Hall, shocked to hear someone as regularly calm and composed as Lily Evans shouting and even more shocked to see her raise her fist in the slippery git's direction, he darted forward and grabbed her wrist.

Lily whirred towards him and somehow looked even more furious, green eyes glistening and jaw set.

"Potter—out of all times," she growled. Then she tried to pull her arm away, nearly yanking James' arm out of its socket. "Let _go _of me."

"Don't touch her," Snape interfered.

"You can fuck right off," Lily snapped back with such viciousness that Snape recoiled. She tried to shake James off again.

"I can't," James said. "I'd let go if I could Evans. I swear on Sirius' head."

"Gee thanks," Sirius sneered behind them. James turned back to look at his friend trying to communicate '_help_' as best as he could without showing fear in front of a quite furious Lily Evans and a dangerously close Severus Snape. He'd heard of what he and those other Slytherin boys had apparently been doing in the Forbidden Forest.

"What do you mean you can't?" Lily asked.

"I'm stuck," James struggled to explain.

"Very mature, Potter," Lily sighed.

"I'm serious, hold still…" James said. Lily, for once, listened to him and watched as he tried to pull away. When he failed, she tried to pry his fingers off but couldn't.

"What did you do?" Snape asked, frowning.

"That's none of your business! Get out before I do something that Potter can't save you from," Lily snapped.

Snape frowned and paled before storming away.

James was shocked.

"Were you really going to hit him?"

"That's none of your concern either," Lily said. She tried to pry off his fingers again but no, James' fingers were completely glued around his wrist by some force neither of them could see, touch, feel, understand, or recall summoning.

"My God," Lily gasped. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," James said. "You saw me, I didn't have the time to do anything clever, I just jumped in!"

"Nobody asked you to," Lily said.

"I know, but he wasn't worth it," James said. "Worth you getting in trouble, I mean."

"That's quite the assessment coming from you," Lily frowned. "What did you sit yesterday, your sixth detention of the month?"

"You're different," James said. "You're better than this."

Lily blushed and looked away. Her eyes darted around and she eventually saw a familiar face in Remus.

"Remus, help?" she asked, jostling her arm to try and shake off James one more time, as if the audience would do the trick. She winced. "_Owe._"

"Don't hurt yourself Evans, I'm not that terrible," James said.

"I rather chew off my arm like a caged animal than spend another second with you," she said. "Remus?"

"I don't understand what's going on and so I don't want to try anything," Remus, always so reasonable, said, scratching the back of his head apologetically.

"I'll get McGonagall," Peter offered before disappearing back into the Great Hall.

He came back with a McGonagall who looked pissy enough that she must have been interrupted mid-coffee.

"What have we got here?" she asked.

"I don't know professor," Lily said. "Potter's… stuck to me."

"Stuck, is he?" McGonagall asked. "Potter, what clever maneuver were you trying to accomplish?"

"Nothing!" James said. "I—"

He stopped himself before he spilled that Lily had been on the verge of hitting another student, which would counter the reason that they got into this mess in the first place.

"I tripped over my shoelaces and he grabbed my arm to steady me," Lily said. James blinked. Lily Evans: ready to smack Severus Snape _and _lie to a professor all in one day. Before lunch, even. This was new.

"Your shoes have no laces, Miss Evans, unless I am woefully behind on Madam Malkin's innovations," McGonagall pointed out.

"She was tripping on my shoelaces," James blurted out.

Behind McGonagall, Sirius pursed his lips, doubtful. Remus shook his head, disappointed. Peter offered an encouraging thumbs up.

"Well, perhaps this is a good reminder to walk in straight lines, Potter," McGonagall said, stepping closer and investigating the spot where their limbs were stuck. Lily was blushing, eyeing the gathering crowd nervously. Given her pale skin, the blushing could get quite furious in James' experience—and this bout was particularly red. James nudged his head towards Sirius and then towards the crowd. Thankfully Padfoot got the message and started shooing first-years away.

Lily had apparently observed their silent exchange and looked to James with a frown, as if she was confused by this act of solidarity. She then mouthed the words _thank you_, which was perhaps the most shocking thing she had done to date.

"Well," McGonagall concluded. "I'm afraid this is old magic at work..."

She looked at them severely behind her glasses, as if this was somehow their fault.

"There isn't anything to do other than letting it take its course," McGonagall said.

"What?" Lily scoffed. "So… we're stuck like this?"

"I will, of course, write you a note excusing you from class for the day," their Head of House continued.

"That..." Lily's jaw was dropped. James wondered if she'd ever missed a day of class in her life. He, of course, being a chronic skipper and more of a freelance student wouldn't be able to say.

"Yes, I will let your other professors know," McGonagall said. "I trust that you two can find a way to entertain yourselves and perhaps even each other until this enchantment expires."

Lily's jaw was angrily set. No, not angry… James realized that she was actually shaking and he wondered a) if she was about to cry, and b) what on earth he would do if she started to; because it wasn't like he could just _do _something because she was Lily Evans and she hated him, but it was also not like he couldn't _not _do something because he was apparently glued to her. Then he realized that maybe he should have let Evans clock Snape, because now she had a fully loaded punch in her and he was the closest target until…

"How long will this last, do you think, professor?" Lily finally asked.

"Impossible to say," McGonagall ho-hummed.

"Say you had to hazard a guess, ma'am?" James said, nearly begging for an answer before Lily snapped.

"At least until the end of the day," McGonagall said.

"Fascinating," Remus breathed. "Professor what is this magic?"

"Not the time, Remus," James hissed.

"Yes indeed Mr Lupin, now is not the time. I believe the three of you have to go to class since you are only metaphorically glued to Potter," McGonagall said.

"Are you saying that if we were physically—"

"Sirius, stop talking," James said hastily, glancing towards Lily, who looked truly miserable now.

"Yes, that would be wise Mr Black," McGonagall said. "On you go."

The three of them shot James one last look before heading off to class.

James turned to Lily.

"So… what do you want to do?" James asked.

Lily sighed. "I suppose we may as well study."

James gulped. "Studying. Yeah, we can do that."

* * *

No. No, they could not do that. Because they couldn't make their way up to the girl's dormitory to pick up Evans' notebooks and parchments and books given James' inevitable presence, and there were no Gryffindor girls lurking in the common room who they could ask. Lily took one look at James' notes and promptly decided that the shorthand and scribbles and set of codes that he used throughout made them absolutely unreadable. His chewed quills also seemed to displease her immensely, and he didn't have the right ink colours for whatever elaborate colour-code she used in classes.

"It's fine," Lily said, eyes closed, sighing. "The library. We can go to the library and just read the books there. I have to do research for my directed reading with Flitwick anyways, this is... well, I won't say perfect, but it will work."

"Aren't you right handed?" James asked.

"Yes, and why do you ask?"

"Well, I'm just kind of holding onto that hand at the moment and I was wondering how you're planning on taking notes…" James said.

Lily chewed her lip. "Or cast any spells. Or…"

"Or do any number of useful things."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," James said. "Just a… a generic comment."

Lily shut her eyes for a second and sighed again. James knew that gesture of exasperation well; he was just seeing it up close and personal today.

"We could go for a walk around the grounds," James suggested.

"Crab-walking like this?" Lily asked, gesturing to their current set-up. James, having lunged to grab Lily's stray hand, was facing her right side which put them at an awkward angle.

"Thank Merlin there's so Quidditch tonight," James said.

"Of course, our main concern at the moment other than the fact that we're beginning our sixth and second to last year with an absence," Lily said.

"You could have started it with a detention," James retorted.

"Yes, and I think that might have been more pleasant," Lily said. "Quieter, at least."

"I can be quieter, but I was on my way to the infirmary to take my potion when I ran into you, so we're going to have to take a pit stop if you want any chance of _that_," James said. Lily looked to him quizzically. He supplied her the answer. "ADHD."

"Oh," Lily said. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. We can… of course, we can go there, let's start with that."

* * *

Madam Pomfrey smiled a strange smile when she saw them and they explained their predicament to her. When Lily asked if anything could be done, she echoed McGonagall's sentiment to just give it a day and see what would happen.

"One day, you'll understand," Madam Pomfrey said with a mysterious smile that puzzled James but seemed to baffle Lily.

James had to pee quite badly, but he wasn't about to mention that after seeing Lily lose even more hope and energy at the realization that she was truly trapped with him.

They walked out of the infirmary and she sighed.

"Okay, here's the situation," Lily sighed. She ran her free hand over her face before facing him again. "I've had the most unpleasant and difficult and complicated morning of my life, all before 9:30 a.m."

There was a beat. James debated what the appropriate answer would be and settled for a very basic, "Okay."

"And it's all been very ridiculous and I think I might cry, but I don't want to do that in front of you, and so I think I might scream, but I don't want to scream at you because it's not your fault, and if there's a third option I'm not quite sure what it is but I don't want to find out," Lily said. "So I need you to work with me on this one, because I need to go to a quiet place—a peaceful place, that I always go to when I'm upset. But I need you to promise not to laugh or to tell anyone about it or to come harass me there once this ordeal is over. Or else I can't go there, because I'd have to bring you, and we'd have to find out more about option number three."

James blinked.

"Right," he said. "Well, umm.. We can go and I'll keep it quiet. I swear."

"You do?" Lily asked.

"I solemnly swear," James promised. Lily looked at him, to gage if he was being sincere. "On Sirius' head."

She nodded. "Okay."

* * *

James didn't know what he was expecting Evans to lead him to, but it wasn't this: an open-air greenhouse on top of one of the castle's milder towers.

"It's an experimental garden," she explained quietly. Her key to this mysterious place hung on a chain around her neck, and she tucked it back into her robes. James' eyes lingered on her throat as she swallowed hard. "Slughorn and Sprout collaborate on the work here, testing the effects of growing methodologies on various potions ingredients. He… when my mum died, he remembered that I'd told him that she ran a flower shop—so he took me on as a laboratory assistant and told me to come here as often as I wanted to."

James nodded. "I… I'm sorry that that had to happen for you to find this place."

"It's fine," Lily said. "That was… that was in third year."

James nodded, not quite understanding how that could be enough to make it fine, but deciding not to poke the very fragile beast.

He looked around. Spells around the edges of the tower softened the deafening winds that were flowing all around them, as if they were in a bubble. The various bushes and miniature trees barely rustled in the breeze that still whistled in James' ears, as if he were flying at a high altitude. If he'd had to miss Quidditch because of their sticky situation, this place might make the whole thing worth it.

"Can we go nearer to the edge?" he asked. Lily nodded, and followed him there. The view of the grounds was spectacular, and when James tore his eyes from it to look back to Lily she was smiling somewhat.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said. "Just… I come here to water and trim the plants and take notes every now and then; sometimes I forget how wonderful it is."

"I thought you didn't like heights," James said. "I mean, I remember that from our flying lessons."

"In first year?" Lily asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well… yeah."

Lily considered this for a second. "Well, you're right. I don't. But that doesn't seem to matter so much up here. It speaks to me, the quietness of this place. I never thought about sharing it before."

"It's brilliant," James agreed. "But I promise I won't tell the boys about it."

_Or put it on the map, _he promised to himself. They had never talked about the possibility of omissions from the map, but James thought that that must be some kind of betrayal. The Marauders would be furious. But he was currently glued to an incredibly upset and, frankly, quite vulnerable Lily Evans. In the grand scheme of things, this was probably the right thing to do.

"Here, you were upset, we can sit," James said, gesturing to one of the benches with his free hand.

"Let's sit by the edge," Lily offered. She shrugged, which tugged on James' arm slightly. "Compromise."

And so they sat and they looked at the grounds some more. They watched the birds of prey that circled the grounds, looked at a crowd of students swarming around the edge of the Forbidden Forest where the holding pen for Care of Magical Creatures was currently installed, looked at another group of students winding their way down to the greenhouses like a trail of ants… Hagrid was the easiest thing to discern from this height; he was watering what James assumed would become his incredibly impressive pumpkin patch.

"Can I ask you something I was going to end up asking sooner rather than later—so I might as well ask it when you're in your happy place?" James asked.

"I suppose it'll be a long day if we don't talk," Lily said, shaking her hair to the left so that it rested over one of her shoulders.

"Were you honestly going to punch Snape or did I overreact?" James asked.

Lily bit down on her lip before looking over the edge of the tower again, at the world. It felt quite small, quite removed from them.

"I think I was," she said quietly.

"I thought you two were friends," James said. "I mean, I don't understand it, but I thought… Sorry, I didn't mean to say anything wrong," he added hastily when he saw her face harden. "That's just… I want to tell you the truth today."

"The truth is… I don't know what the truth is," Lily said. She shook her head. "Severus _was _my friend. I thought he was my best friend, but he…"

"He called you a mudblood," James blurted.

Lily swallowed again.

"Sorry," James said. "I just… I remember that."

"You were pretty mad when he did it," Lily recalled.

"No offence Evans, but any decent person should have been," James said.

"I agree," Lily said. "It's just… harder to reconcile that with someone who you thought you could trust."

James nodded. "I can't even imagine. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Lily said. "It was just a long summer after that—we grew up together, we're practically neighbours, and he kept trying to… he kept saying sorry, but he also had all those other Slytherin boys who are into dark magic over, so I just… I can't believe him when he apologizes, because his actions just don't fit his words. But he won't give me space."

"I know it's kind of ironic for me to be the one saying this, you know, given our current circumstances, but he should," James said.

Lily actually laughed at that. When she laughed, it came from her belly. It shook her midriff and sent her shoulders up and down, and James felt the ripple effect of the laughter shake his own arm.

"I know," Lily said. "I know, but it's hard in practise because I keep wanting him to be better. And the other Gryffindor girls—they never liked him, and now that he's been following me around they're avoiding me too."

"That's awful," James said.

"I don't blame them," Lily said. "I defended him for… much longer than I should have. I know you don't like him, but please don't say anything sassy right now. It's hard enough as is."

"I won't," James promised. "But what you're saying only makes what I said earlier truer. He's not worth it, Evans. Not worth getting in trouble for, not worth wasting the might of a good punch on, not worth the time, not worth the energy, not worth the hassle."

Lily swallowed. "Thanks. I… I suppose I thought that this stickiness was some sort of universe-given punishment for putting bad energy into the world or something, but I think this is the first real conversation that we've had."

"I think it is," James agreed. "I kind of wish you were a little happier, though."

Lily turned back to him and smiled a close-mouthed but wide smile.

"I'll be okay," she said.

"You've just gotta stick to it," James said, raising their clasped hands.

Lily burst out into another fit of giggles. And James decided that he would spend all day chasing that laughter.


End file.
